[Implications of multilingualism in the manifestations of stuttering].

Abstract

Stuttering is a communication disorder affecting speech which is then considered disfluent. What happens when a person who stutters speaks several languages? There will be constant interactions between multilinguism and stuttering. The disorder will generally appear differently according to the spoken language. Linguistic factors have an impact on stutte­ring, with disfluencies appearing differently according to the speaker’s proficiency in using each language. Emotional factors related to the choice of the spoken language can exag­ge­rate the disorder, hence influencing the speaker’s choice of a language, even choices in life. These factors are to be taken into consideration when assessing stuttering, with a particular attention to cultural aspects. Finally, stuttering variability according to the spoken language will also have an impact on therapeutic decisions.